Presentation at 2017 EASA - 6th of Sept 2017, Granger Bay

1. White Privilege and the Colonial Wound:
Some Pedagogical Concerns
Dr. Kristian D. Stewart, University of Michigan-Dearborn
Dr. Daniela Gachago, Cape Peninsula Universityof Technology

2. Background

3. Statement of the Problem
1. To what extent might we, as two privileged White women,
reinforce a “colonial wound” (Mignolo, 2009, p.3)
unintendedly on students of colour by for example
privileging dominant stories our students share (like our
own), or by reinforcing stereotypes when students of
color are portrayed as “other” in classroom spaces?
2. How might we perpetuate violence (silent and symbolic) on
our students when trying to create safe classroom spaces
that usually protect Whiteness/White Fragility?

4. Colonial wound - definition
“The de-colonial path has one thing in
common: the colonial wound, the fact
that regions and people around the world
have been classified as underdeveloped
economically and mentally”
(Mignolo, 2009, p.3).

5. Theoretical Frame(s)
● Bourdieu, (1980/1999) - silent violence.
● Lefebvre, (1991)- spatial theory.
● Naidoo, (2016) - “inside and outside heritage,” equate to
classroom practice?
● Leonardo and Porter, (2010)-pedagogy of disruption; protecting
Whiteness is symbolic violence.
● Mazzei, (2008) - “racially-inscribed silences,” White teachers
inability to see themselves as “Other.”

6. Examples
1.Privilege Walk - should we allow (white)
students to leave the classroom?
2.Digital storytelling - how do we deal with
(white) silence in response to black
stories?

7. What we know...

8. Recognizing Habits of Mind:
Toward an ethics of attentiveness
● Noting our actions (and non-actions) can further
disenfranchisement (Bourdieu, 1980/1999) & become an act of violence
against students of color.
● Acknowledging our own biases/blind spots - “white people setting up
white spaces”- white privilege as hidden curriculum (Mazzei, 2008).
● White allyship - starting from a position of not-knowing and humility.
“White people cannot be left alone”
● ‘Stepping back’ in order to make space for the other / recognising the
needs of others (Sevenhuijsen, 2002)

9. (Re)creating Habits of Mind:
An ethics of responsiveness
● Flipping curriculum: Engagement across difference as the curriculum,
i.e. using silence as critical teaching moment, integrating critical
texts and (counter) experiences/narratives as core curriculum.
● Student buy in: co-design of curriculum with students -
acknowledging and challenging power dynamics.
● Respect for students’ home languages, cultures, and experiences---
as a right.
● Challenge safety and understanding that safety means different
things for different people.
● Collaborative / cross-racial partnerships (internal/external).

10. Questions?
Kristi (kdstew@umich.edu)
Daniela (gachagod@cput.ac.za)

11. “Since life is our most
precious gift, let us be
certain that it is dedicated
to the liberation of the human
mind and spirit…
beginning with our own.”
Maya Angelou

12. References
Boler, M. & Zembylas, M. (2003) Discomforting truths: the emotional terrain
of understanding differences. In Trifonas, P.(ed) Pedagogies of Difference: Rethinking
Education for Social Justice. New York: Routledge, 116-139.
Bourdieu, P. (1999). The production and reproduction of legitimate language. In John B. Thompson
(Ed.), Language and symbolic power (pp. 43-65). (Gino Raymond & Matthew Adamson, Trans.).
Cambridge, United Kingdom: Polity Press. (Original work published 1980).
DiAngelo, Robin. 2011. “White Fragility.” International Journal of Critical Pedagogy 3 (3): 54–70.
Gachago, D., Ivala, E., Condy, J., & Chigona, A. (2013). Journeys across difference: Preservice
teacher education students’ perceptions of a pedagogy of discomfort in a digital storytelling
project in South Africa. Critical Studies in Teaching and Learning, 1(1), 22– 52.
doi:10.14426/cristal.v1i1.4
Gachago, D., Condy, J., Ivala, E., & Chigona, A. (2014). All stories bring hope because stories
bring awareness: Students’ perceptions of digital storytelling for social justice education. South
African Journal of Education, 34(4).
Hurst, E. (2016) Navigating language: strategies, transitions, and the
‘colonial wound’ in South African education, Language and Education, 30:3, 219-234, DOI:
Lefebvre, H. (1991). The production of space (Donald Nicholson-Smith, Trans.). Oxford, United
Kingdom: Blackwell Publishing. (Original work published in 1974).
Leonardo, Z. & Porter, R. K.(2010) 'Pedagogy of fear: toward a Fanonian theory of 'safety' in
race dialogue', Race Ethnicity and Education, 13: 2, 139 — 157 To doi:
10.1080/13613324.2010.482898Maldonado-Torres, Nelson. 2015. “Outline of Ten Theses on Coloniality
and Decoloniality.

13. References, cont.
Mazzei, L.A. (2008). Silence speaks: Whiteness revealed in the absence of voice. Teaching and Teacher
Education, 24(5), 1125–1136. doi:10.1016/j.tate.2007.02.00
McIntosh, Peggy. 1992. “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack.” In Multiculturalism, edited by
Anna May Filor, 30–36. New York: New York State Council of Educational Associations.
http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED355141.pdf#page=43.
Mignolo, W. (2009). Epistemic disobedience, independent thought and de-colonial freedom. Theory, Culture, and
Society, 26(7-8), 1-23. Retrieved from http://waltermignolo.com/wp-
content/uploads/2013/03/epistemicdisobedience-2.pdf
Stewart, K. (2017). Classrooms as ‘safe houses’? The ethical and emotional implications of digital storytelling in a university writing
classroom. Critical studies in teaching and learning., 5(1), 85-102. doi https://doi.org/10.14426/cristal.v5i1.102
Stewart, K., & Gachago, D. (2016). Being human today: A digital storytelling pedagogy for transcontinental
border crossing. British Journal of Educational Technology 47(3):528-542. doi: 10.1111/bjet.12450
Stewart, K. & Ivala, E. (2017). Silence, Voice, and “Other Languages”: Digital storytelling as a site of
resistance and restoration in a South African teacher education classroom. British Journal of Educational
Technology. doi: 10.1111/bjet.12540